Red-headed Woodpecker

Melanerpes erythrocephalus

This is the only North American species of woodpecker with an entirely red head and neck. It prefers open woodlands, groves of large trees in old fields, and wooded swamps for its habitat, and nests in cavities in snags (dead or dying trees). These types of ecosystems are becoming increasingly rare, thus threatening the survival of the red-headed woodpecker. Another key reason for the decline of this species is the introduction of the European starling, which competes for bark cavities and will even take over a cavity that has been excavated by a woodpecker.